UN official killed in Pakistan: Reports

Islamabad, Feb 23 (DPA) Baloch insurgents Monday claimed to have executed a UN official held captive for about three weeks in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, media reports said. John Solecki, a US national who led the UN refugee agency’s regional office, was kidnapped Feb 2 by gunmen in the provincial capital Quetta, while he was on his way to work in a car carrying the UN emblem and registration plates. His Pakistani driver was shot dead in the ambush.

An unknown telephone caller told reporters at the Quetta Press Club that Solecki had been killed and his body would be dumped somewhere within two hours, the Geo news channel reported.

Another television channel, Express News, said the phone call was made from Nushki town, roughly 100 km southwest of Quetta near the Afghan border.

A previously unknown group, the Baloch United Liberation Front, had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.